TEXAS AIR MAY HAVE TO SELL MORE NEW YORK SPACE TO GET EASTERN

NEW YORK -- The takeover of Eastern Airlines Inc. by the Texas Air Corp. has run into problems, industry sources say. They said the Department of Transportation is concerned about the ability of Pan American World Airways Inc. to mount a viable shuttle service at La Guardia Airport by Oct. 1.

The sources, who asked not to be named, said that the department is still expected to approve the merger but that it could delay its decision or put in conditions that the merger could not go through until the shuttle problem is resolved.

Under the law, the department has to decide by next Sunday, six months after Texas Air filed to take over Eastern and create one of the world's largest airlines.

Alan M. Pollock, a spokesman for the Transportation Department, said that Sunday was still the target date for issuing the decision.

Industry sources said, however, that the department has indicated to both Eastern and Texas Air that it will not let the merger go through unless Pan Am can solve its problems starting its shuttle service.

Last May, Frank A. Lorenzo, the chairman of Texas Air, appeared to have scored a coup when it was announced that Texas Air was selling slots and gates at La Guardia, Logan Airport in Boston and National Airport in Washington, D.C., to Pan Am for $65 million.

The sale satisified the Justice Department, which had raised anti- competitive concerns, in that a merger of Texas Air and Eastern would mean putting the Eastern shuttle and the New York Air shuttle at La Guardia under one company. The sale appeared, at first, to assure that the merger would be quickly approved by the Transportation Department.

In the past several months, however, it became clear that Pan Am was having difficulty putting together a shuttle that would compete with Eastern, which originated the shuttle and had a strong, loyal following.

A major problem of Pan Am is that it lacked enough slots to match Eastern's 15 hourly flights.

Industry sources said that Pan Am is seeking to buy or trade five slots at La Guardia to enable it to match Eastern's frequency. They said Pan Am and Texas Air were involved in talks to resolve the slot problem. The sources said that Pan Am expected to buy the slots for about $500,000 to $750,000 each.